The following description of an oil spill by a guest contributor is submitted anonymously by me, Kathleen Sloan, because this person fears retribution and violence, which has already been threatened.
1)On Monday 2/23/26 and Tuesday 2/24/26 residents of 609 Kopra St deliberately and knowingly discharged used motor oil from their vehicles into the street outside the property.
2) On Thursday 2/26/27 I reported this toxic waste dumping (which is contrary to city ordinances – Section 6:32 and others) to the city. Officer Knull, senior code compliance officer, called me back but said basically there’s not a lot he can do because the individuals responsible could claim accidental spillage. He did not commit either the people responsible nor the city to clean up/mitigation.
3) The used motor oil is currently (Friday 2/27/26)seeping down slope along the property 785 W 6th. I have temporarily dammed it with sand and debris to prevent it seeping further down slope. In my opinion, in light of the geography, anyone along W 6th below the 800s and anyone on Kopra below the 600s could be impacted (should this toxic waste dumping not be mitigated and/or we have a big storm – haha-). Then there’s the Rio Grande. We are all downriver etc. etc.
4) To my knowledge nothing has resulted from my report to the city. I do hope I am wrong. It might seem minor but I suggest it is part of a bigger trend of picking and choosing which laws, and to whom, they will apply. Environmental protections are getting short shrift everywhere.
5) I am a gardener who grows produce, according to sustainable agricultural principles as much as possible, for the farmers market (and myself and my friends and family). The city appears to me to be shrugging at deliberate poisoning of the soil of properties adjacent to this toxic waste spill (and all those down slope).
In conclusion I am just so desperately tired of people who are paid out of public tax dollars not enforcing the ordinances and laws which have been written and signed into law, and which it is their job to enforce. I am tired of the city choosing to NOT ensure that this is a healthy community to live in. I don’t want a golf course. I want the food I grow in my garden NOT to make me sick. I pay my taxes. I pay exorbitant utilities. I participate in community according to my interests. Yet I feel that I am not taken seriously by the police force, and my interests are not respected.
